In the UK and international press today, most papers note that women in Egypt yesterday protested in Cairo against their treatment by security forces. In other news, the Telegraph notes that Syria carried out military drills yesterday. The Telegraph and BBC Online report that Britain and other EU countries led condemnation at the UN Security Council members yesterday for Israel’s plans to increase settlement construction in the West Bank. The Times notes that US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta said that Iran could build a nuclear weapon in less than a year. The Independent notes that an ultra-religious Jewish funder plans to run a private transport fleet in order to keep gender segregated buses in religious areas in Israel. The Guardian notes that Apple acquired Israeli flash storage maker Anobit for £319 million

On the Israeli front pages, Haaretz leads with the story that 10,000 Syrian soldiers have defected from the army as President Bashar Assad military loses strength. All papers carry a picture of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lighting the first candle of the Jewish festival of Chanukah yesterday at the Efraim Brigade IDF base and said that the settler violence on IDF targets was a stain on Israeli democracy. The Jerusalem Post notes that head of the Egyptian Salafi party said that it would honour the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

In other news, the papers note that 73 people were killed yesterday in violence in Syria, including 14 soldiers who were ambushed by opposition forces. The Jerusalem Post notes that diplomats from the US, EU and other allies agreed yesterday to step up pressure on Iran to resume talks over its nuclear programme. The pressure could include imposing an EU oil embargo on Tehran. All papers note that the 14 Security Council members criticised the US for blocking condemnation of Israel for its increase in settlement construction in the West Bank.